JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Trailing 8-3 midway through the seventh inning, the Irish plated five runs in the bottom half of the inning before walking off a 9-8 win over Indiana in 11 innings at the Live Like Lou Jax Baseball Classic on Sunday.
Indiana posted a run in the top of the first inning, but Ty Uber used a bases-loaded strikeout to limit the damage.
Noah Coy led off the bottom of the second by drawing a four-pitch walk and stole second to get into scoring position for the Irish. Two batters later, Jamie Zee drove in Coy from third with a single through the left side to knot the game at 1-1.
The Hoosiers plated a run in the top of fourth to regain the lead at 2-1. The Irish quickly erased the deficit by scoring a run in their next at-bats. Chase Van Ameyde was hit by a pitch, and Dylan Passo flared a single the opposite way to put two on base in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs gone, Drew Berkland laced an infield single to drive in Van Ameyde from third, knotting the score up at 2-2.
Indiana used a bases-loaded double to go ahead 5-2 in the top half of the fifth. Mark Quatrani gave the Irish a jolt of energy in the bottom half of the fifth with a lead-off homer to chip into the deficit at 6-3.
Dylan Singleton struck out the side in the top of the sixth, but the Hoosiers plated a pair in the top of the seventh for an 8-3 lead.
The Irish were far from done. Mark Quatrani blasted the first pitch he saw of his at-bat well beyond the left field fence to make it an 8-4 game. Parker Brzustewicz and Jayce Lee both drew walks as the Hoosiers made a pitching change, and Noah Coy pulled a single just inside the first base bag to drive in Brzustewicz. Chase Van Ameyde added another walk to load the bases. Mason Barth then drilled a pinch-hit single to center field to drive in Lee and Coy as the Irish made it a one-run game. Jamie Zee had a textbook sacrifice bunt, and Drew Berkland blasted a deep sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field to drive in Van Ameyde with the tying run to knot things up at 8-8.
Noah Rooney made quick work of the Hoosiers in the top of the eighth by retiring Indiana in order. The senior lefty added another three-up, three-down effort with some help from a strong defensive play by Noah Coy in the top of the ninth.
Jayce Lee had a huge play on defense by cutting down an IU runner trying to go from first to third with two outs in the top of the tenth to shut down the Hoosiers.
Jayce Lee was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the 11th, and Noah Coy put down the sacrifice bunt to move Lee into scoring position. Chase Van Ameyde was hit by a pitch to put a pair on base for the Irish. Two batters later, Jamie Zee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Drew Berkland then walked it off for the Irish with a deep shot to the base of the left-center fence to drive in Lee for the 9-8 win.
It was the first walk-off single for the Irish since a 13-12 walk-off victory over Wake Forest on April 23, 2022.
Mark Quatrani went 4-for-6 at the dish with two home runs on the day. Drew Berkland added a 4-for-6 effort of his own with three RBIs, which included the game-tying and game-winning runs. Noah Coy was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs. Mason Barth had a hit and drove in a pair while Jamie Zee registered a hit and drove in a run. Jayce Lee tallied a hit and two runs, and Chase Van Ameyde scored twice. Parker Brzustewicz scored a run for the Irish in the win while Bino Watters notched a hit.
Ty Uber started the game and went 4.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts. Xavier Hirsch, Eli Thurmond, Dylan Singleton and Noah Rooney combined for five innings of work in relief. Rooney paced the efforts on the day with four strikeouts, and Singleton punched out three batters. Oisin Lee earned the save after going 2.0 and scattering a pair of hits while not surrendering a run.
The Irish (3-3) look ahead to a three-game weekend at Tennessee Tech from February 27-March 1. The first of their three games will be against Alabama A&M starting at noon ET on Friday, February 27.